Connection – Addicted to the Buzz

For my birthday last week I got a FitBit Flex. If you’ve been following my diet reports and wanderings, you know I’ve lost almost 60 lbs in the last year and a half. It’s been slow, but pretty steady, and I’ve tried to exercise some each day. But until I got the FitBit, I didn’t really know how many calories I was burning.

This little baby counts my steps and, based on my weight, tells me how many calories I’m burning in a day. And it’s all connected wirelessly to my computer.

My other tool in this journey has been the program and apps from MyFitnessPal. By entering the food I eat every day, I get a pretty accurate calorie count and can pair it with my activity as reported by my FitBit.

And those two programs are connected wirelessly to give me a picture of where I am in my diet – every single minute of the day.

Now you may be thinking that’s way more trouble than it’s worth, but, for a many, many times failed dieter, they have been my saving grace.

One of the best things about these programs is that they help connect me to friends and acquaintances who are also struggling to improve their health and fitness with diet and exercise.

You may be wondering where the title of this post comes from. Well, when I reach my target number of steps for the day, the lovely little FitBit Flex on my wrist buzzes gently, and lights up five tiny lights. I’ve been known to walk around in circles (otherwise known as “pacing”) in the evening just waiting for the buzz. It is a super-satisfying sound and sensation that tells me I’ve done what I needed to do that day.

If you are interested in following my progress daily (although why you would be, I don’t know), you can follow my other site http://gettingseriousaboutmybody.wordpress.com. If you are struggling and want some support or encouragement, you can connect with me there or on either of the apps listed above, and we’ll cry together about how much we REALLY wanted that piece of birthday cake or about how the exercise equipment is kicking our butts.

Visiting from the Synchroblog. Congrats on your health journey! Love the reminder of the positive boost connection can give us. It’s so much more fun to engage a community (even digital) than to power through some things on our own. Best of luck to you!